claims that he has received a vote of confidence from the people of
this country. Out of a total poll of fifteen millions his candidates
secured less than six million votes. Making full allowance for
uncontested seats, this figure cannot be stretched out to a height much
above six millions.
That means that only two-fifths of the electorate voted confidence
in the administration, whilst three-fifths voted confidence in other
leaders or groups. A party which has a majority of three millions
recorded against it on a national referendum can hardly claim to have
received a national vote of confidence.
It might be argued that when the question of confidence or no
confidence comes to be stated, the National Liberals having promised
co-operation, the votes recorded by them ought not to be placed on the
debit side of the confidence account. The basis of the appeal made by
the National Liberal candidates for support is practically that stated
by me in my Manchester speech:
"The supreme task of statesmanship at this hour is the pacification of
the nations, so that the people shall have leisure to devote themselves
to the peaceful avocations of life, to fill up the depleted reservoirs
from which we all draw.
"My course is a clear one. I will support with all my might any
government that devotes itself and lends its energy to that task
with single-mindedness, fearlessness, and with resolution--provided
it does not embark upon measures which inflict permanent injury upon
the country, whether these measures be reactionary or revolutionary.
That does not mean that I pledge myself to support inefficiency,
vacillation, or infirmity in any government or in any party. But any
government that does not pursue that course I will resist with all my
might. That is my policy."
I have perused the addresses of many National Liberal candidates and I
have addressed many meetings in their constituencies, and I find that
their attitude towards the government is defined in these terms, with
purely verbal variations. The address of Mr. J. D. Gilbert, who won
Central Southwark, is a very fair sample taken out of the bulk:
"If you honour me again with your confidence I will support any
progressive measures brought forward by the present government or
any other government. I shall not offer factious opposition or
nagging criticism while our country is in difficulties at home or
abroad."
There may be one or two who went further, but none expressed confidence.
I have made some inquiries as to the number of Conservative votes
polled by National Liberal candidates. I am informed that on an average
it represents less than one-third of the total. At the last election
167 National Liberal candidates were put up. They polled an aggregate
of 1,652,823 votes, that is, an average of 9,897 per candidate. What
proportion of this vote was Conservative? There is a good practical
method of testing this question. In sixty-two seats National Liberals
were fought by Conservative as well as by other candidates. In
these cases the average vote polled by National Liberals was 6,820.
That means that where the Conservatives supported National Liberal
candidates their votes would represent about 30 per cent. of the
poll for these candidates. On the other hand, the number of Liberal
votes polled by Conservatives, where a compact existed, at least
balances this account, for although the total in each constituency
does not equal the figures of the Conservative support in National
Liberal constituencies, still, that support was spread over many more
constituencies.
The prime minister and his chief electioneering manager both
emphatically repudiated the suggestion that there was any pact between
Conservatives and National Liberals, and urged that there were only
local arrangements made between the candidates of the two parties for
their mutual convenience.
As the head of the National Liberal group I expressed grave doubts as
to the composition of the ministry, and much apprehension as to the
language in which its policy was defined. That represents the general
attitude of the National Liberals toward the government. Their support,
therefore, cannot be claimed in totalling the votes recorded for the
government.
The fact, therefore, remains that those who voted confidence in the
government represent only forty per cent. of those who went to the poll
and twenty-five per cent. of the total electorate.
I place this fact in the forefront, because it is bound to have a
profound effect upon the course of events during--maybe beyond--the
lifetime of this parliament. It is the first time, certainly since the
Reform Act, that a pronounced minority of the electorate has succeeded
in securing the control of parliament and the government of the country.
It would be idle to pretend that in a democratic country like ours,
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of representative government, this
does not weaken the moral authority of the government of the day.
Therefore, if the government is wise it will bear that fact in mind and
will not commit itself to policies which challenge the nine millions
who between them represent a majority of the people of this country.
It is not a very good beginning to claim these striking figures as a
vote of confidence. I sincerely trust it does not indicate a resolve to
ignore, if not to defy, what is an obvious and ought to be a governing
factor in the policy of the government.
A corollary to this curious working of our electoral system is to be
found in the under-representation of the other parties in the present
parliament, and unless representative government is to be discredited
altogether, the present parliament ought at once to devote its mind and
direct its energies to the discovery of some method and machinery which
will avert the danger which clearly arises from the working of the
present system.
The parliament of 1918 undoubtedly gave a larger majority to the
government than the figures warranted. But the majority of votes cast
for government candidates was so overwhelming that under any system
of voting there would have been a larger working majority for the
government than that which the present government can command. So when
trouble arose it was not open to any section of the community to object
that the government had no authority because it did not represent the
electorate of this country.
We are faced with a new danger to constitutional government. What
has happened at this election may be repeated at the next--but not
necessarily in favour of the same party.
If we are to be governed by a succession of administrations who rule
in spite of the protest of a majority of the people, the authority of
government will be weakened beyond repair.
The luck of the electoral table has this time favoured the
Conservatives. Next time it may turn in favour of the Labour Party.
They have at this election secured 55 seats out of a total of 141 by a
minority of votes.
The conditions were, in many respects, against them. Their funds were
exhausted by the prolonged period of heavy unemployment. The trade
union movement was passing through an ebb tide in its prosperity, both
in funds and in members. There was a good deal of discontent with the
trade union leaders. Many workmen felt they had been let down badly by
some of their activities in industrial disputes.
Moreover, Labour has been committed by visionaries to a rash experiment
which handicapped it severely in the election. Next time may be the
spring tide of Labour. They have learnt their lesson at the polls, and
are not likely to repeat the blunder of November, 1922.
This time the votes cast for them have attained the gigantic aggregate
of four millions and a quarter. Supposing under those conditions they
add another two millions to their poll. Although the other groups may
secure between them nine millions of votes, Labour may have the same
luck as the Conservatives at the last election and be placed in power
by a decisive majority of members elected by a minority of votes.
I am not going to speculate as to what may happen under those
conditions; the kind of legislation that may be proposed; the action
of the House of Lords in reference to it, provoking, as it undoubtedly
will, a fierce class conflict; or the turn given to administration in
the various departments of government.
Of one thing I am, however, certain. That is, that as a minority
administration in 1922 and onwards will help to discredit government
with certain classes of the community, a minority Labour administration
would weaken the respect of other classes for representative
government, and between them an atmosphere will be created inimical to
the moral authority of all government in this country.
I have many a time warned the public that, in spite of
appearances, this country is in many respects very top-heavy. It
is over-industrialised. Its means of livelihood are in some ways
precarious, and depend on conditions over which we have very little
control, and once something happens which may have the effect of
causing a lean-over either in one direction or in the other, it will be
more difficult to recover than in lands where the population depends in
the main for its livelihood upon the cultivation of the soil and the
development of the natural resources of the country.
I therefore earnestly trust that in the interests of stability and good
government, which must be based on the goodwill and co-operation of the
community as a whole, this parliament will apply its mind seriously to
finding some means of preventing a repetition either in one direction
or another of this freak of representative government.
Another feature of the election is the heavy vote polled by Liberal
candidates in spite of untoward circumstances.
Whatever the difficulties of the Labour Party might be in this election
they were not comparable to those under which Liberalism fought the
campaign. It was divided by bitter internecine conflicts. The leaders
of one section seemed to be more intent on keeping representatives of
the other section out of parliament than on fighting for the common
cause. The bulk of their speeches was devoted to attacks on the leaders
of the other Liberal group, and there was not much room left for a
statement of the Liberal case.
What happened in Manchester is typical. Here the rank and file took the
matter in hand and enforced agreement. Lord Grey was brought down to
bless it. But the whole of his benedictory speech consisted of a thin
and dreary drip of querulous comment on the leaders of the other group,
with a distinct hint that the return of a Conservative government would
be by no means a bad thing in the interests of the country.
The speech was hailed by a Tory journal with the heading "Lord Grey
Supports Mr. Bonar Law." He then went straight to support Mr. McKinnon
Wood as candidate with a repetition of the same speech. Thence he
rushed off to reiterate the same performance at Bedford in support
of Lady Lawson, and he finished off by reciting it for two days at
meetings in support of Mr. Walter Runciman.
No wonder that he succeeded in damping Liberal enthusiasm to such an
extent that his unfortunate protégés surprised even their opponents in
the poverty of the support given them at the polls.
As soon as the coalition broke up the leaders of this Liberal section
met to consider the situation. The one positive result of their
deliberations was not the issue of a ringing appeal for unity on the
basis of Liberal principles, but a peevish intimation through the press
that efforts at unity were to be discouraged at the election. It was
clearly ordained that the Coalition Liberals should be crushed out. The
Conservatives spurned them, and the Independent Liberals gave notice
that they had no use for them. They were destined for extinction. Lord
Crewe's speech proceeded on the same lines. May I say how sincerely I
rejoice in the tribute to the "amateur diplomatist" which is implied
in the conferring by a Conservative government of the blue ribbon of
diplomacy upon the leader of the Independent Liberals in the House of
Lords?
This precipitate and lamentable decision lost at least forty Liberal
seats, gave to the Conservatives their majority, and what is equally
important established the Labour Party as His Majesty's official
Opposition in the House of Commons. The latter is much the most
serious practical result of the decisions of the Independent leaders
to debar united action at the last election. If Liberals had united
when the Coalition came to an end, Liberalism might have polled five
million votes. It would have now held a powerful second position in
parliament, and the country and the nation would have looked to it in
the future as it has hitherto done in the past for the alternative to
"Toryism." Instead of that it is a poor split third. How could they
expect to win at the polls? The National Liberals were pursued into
their constituencies. Thirty-five National Liberal seats were assailed
by Independent Liberal candidates. I am not making a complaint, but
offering an explanation. Whatever the views of the National Liberal
leaders might have been on the subject of Liberal unity they were given
no chance to effect it, and although they entered into no national
compact with the Conservatives their followers in certain areas had no
option but to negotiate local arrangements with the Conservatives for
mutual support. The implacable attitude of the Independent Liberals
left them no choice in the matter.
What was the inevitable result? No real fight was put up for Liberal
principles on either side. The Independent Liberals were tangled by
the personal preoccupation of their leaders. They had accumulated
enormous dumps of ammunition for the day of battle on the assumption
that the main attack would be on the Coalition Liberals, and, although
the Conservatives now lined the opposite trenches, anger dominated
strategy, and the guns were still fired at their old foes, whilst the
Tory government was only bombarded with bouquets. On the other hand,
the National Liberal leaders were embarrassed by the engagements into
which their followers had been driven by the action of the Independent
Liberal leaders and the two warring factions.
The National Liberals, in spite of their enormous difficulties, have
not been exterminated. I am not going to enter into a barren inquiry
as to whether their numbers are or are not greater than those of Mr.
Asquith's followers. Let it be assumed that they are equal. The marvel
is that under these fratricidal conditions so many Liberals of any
complexion have been returned.
I am not setting forth these unhappy facts in order to prolong the
controversy which has poisoned Liberalism for years, but in order to
call attention to the vitality which, in spite of these depressing
conditions, can bring up 4,100,000 voters to the polls. Electorally
Liberalism is the balancing power, and if it casts its united strength
against either reaction or subversion its influence must be decisive,
whatever the composition of this parliament may be.
It is common knowledge that the Independent Liberals confidently
anticipated the return of at least 120 members of their group. The
fact that they only succeeded in securing the return of about fifty is
naturally to them a source of deep disappointment.
If the failure of high hopes leads to contemplation of the real causes
of that failure and a sincere desire is manifested to substitute
co-operation for conflict my colleagues and I will welcome it. We
cannot force our society on an unwilling company.
During the campaign I repeatedly expressed the hope that one outcome of
this election would be to bring moderate men of progressive outlook in
all parties to see the wisdom of acting together.
But progressive minds are by no means confined to the Liberal party.
I have met and worked with them in the Conservative party, and the
election will have taught many men and women in the Labour party that
violent and extravagant proposals impede progress. If the limits are
not too narrowly drawn, this parliament may witness the effective
association of men of many parties who are genuinely concerned in the
advancement of mankind along the paths of peace and progress for the
attainment of their common ideals. If that end is achieved, the coming
years will not be spent in vain.
One word as to the National Liberals. When the dissolution came no
party was ever placed in a more embarrassing and even desperate
situation.
The Conservatives have at their disposal a great political machine. The
Labour party could command the support of all the trade unions, with
their elaborate machinery for organising the wage-earning population.
The Independent Liberals had in England and in Scotland captured the
Liberal machine almost in its entirety, and had spent six years in
perfecting it, their leaders having no other occupation.
The National Liberal leaders inherited no political machinery, and were
too preoccupied with great world affairs to be able to devote any time
to the improvisation of an effective new organisation.
Conservatives, Independent Liberals, and Labour all alike attacked
National Liberal seats where they thought any advantage might be gained
for their respective parties by doing so. The Conservatives only
refrained from attack in cases where they thought there was more to be
gained by arrangement. There was a great volume of popular sentiment
behind our group. I visited Britain, north, south, east, west, and I
have never witnessed such crowds nor such enthusiasm at any electoral
contest in which I have ever taken part; but there was no organisation
to convert acclamation into electoral power, and you could not build
up a vast political machine in three weeks. Our supporters were not
provided with an opportunity to test their strength in two-thirds of
the constituencies. In nearly three hundred constituencies they could
not do so without impairing the chances of Liberal candidates. A
compact with Conservatives ruled them out of others.
It is a wonder that, in spite of these adverse and even paralysing
conditions our numbers are twice those of the Independent Liberals in
1918.
We have now for the first time full opportunity for placing our case
and point of view before the country and organising support for them.
It is our duty to do so.
Every month will contribute its justification for the course we have
hitherto pursued, and for the counsel we have steadfastly given to a
country struggling through abnormal difficulties.
_London, November 20th, 1922._
XXIV
HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS
The startling English by-elections of the last few weeks have called
attention to the working of the new electorate in Great Britain and
set men pondering about its possibilities in a way a general election
failed to make them think. Democracy in the sense of government of a
great state by the absolute and unfettered authority of the majority of
its own citizens of all ranks and conditions is a modern experiment.
The United States of America are the oldest democracy in the world
to-day.
How many realise that Britain became a democracy for the first time in
1917? Until then the majority of its adult population had no voice in
the making or administration of the laws that ruled their lives.
The United States of America, France and Italy have adopted universal
suffrage as the basis of authority for many a year. So have the
British Dominions, but Britain herself, the pioneer of representative
institutions, until recently shrank from the experiment of adult
suffrage. Before the Reform Act of 1832 the total electorate of this
country numbered only 3 per cent. of the population. The distribution
of power amongst this small percentage was so arranged that even the 3
per cent. represented in effect no more than at best 1 per cent.
A generation of turmoil and agitation, almost culminating in
revolution, succeeded in forcing through a measure which increased
the 3 per cent. to 4.5 per cent. of the population! It is true that
the distribution of votes was more equitable, but even with that
improvement to call this ridiculous percentage a democracy would be
absurd. Another generation of growing agitation ensued. This also ended
in violence. Then Mr. Disraeli, one of the boldest and most venturesome
of British statesmen, in 1867 doubled the electorate. His measure
increased the number of voters to 9 per cent. of the population.
Disraeli's audacious plunge horrified some of his aristocratic
supporters and shocked many Whigs. "Bob" Lowe had already foretold
calamities that would follow Gladstone's more cautious proposals. Seven
years later saw the election of the first Tory parliament since 1841.
So much for the prophecies of the men who always fear evil must flow
from justice.
Fifteen years after the Disraeli measure the Gladstone administration
added another 7 per cent. to the electorate. The Gladstone proposals,
which raised the number of voters to 16 per cent., were so vehemently
contested that they nearly precipitated a Constitutional crisis of the
first magnitude. Ultimately, however, they were carried, and there the
franchise remained until the war.
The electorate that, through its representatives, accepted the German
challenge in 1914, and was therefore responsible for involving
the country in the most costly and sanguinary war it ever waged,
represented one-sixth of the population and about one-third of the
adults. The conscription act converted the country to the injustice of
this state of things. Millions of men were forced to risk their lives
for a policy which they had no share in fashioning. Millions of women
faced anxieties and tortures worse than death in pursuit of the same
policy, and yet no woman was allowed to express any opinion as to the
selection of the rulers who led them to this sacrifice.
It was felt to be so unjust that in the exaltation of war, which lifted
men to a higher plane of equity, this obvious wrong was redressed.
Hence the greatest of all the enfranchisement acts, the Act of 1917,
that for the first time converted the British system of government into
a democracy.
How has it worked? It is too early to speak of its results. Mr. Austen
Chamberlain in a letter[10] has called attention to one aspect of its
operation. He emphasises a fact which is already known to every man who
has passed through the experience of a contested election, that nearly
one-half the new electorate is unattached to any political party.
If you deduct out of the total the numbers of the old electorate which
had already formed ties of a party character, you will find from the
result of the elections that more than half the new electorate is free
and floating about without any anchor or rudder and ready to be towed
by the first party that succeeded in roping them. Millions of the new
electors are too indifferent or too undecided about political issues to
take sides at the polling booths.
In the hotly contested election of January, 1910, 92 per cent. of the
voters went to the poll. At the second election which took place in
the same year the percentage was 89. The slight difference between the
two elections would be accounted for by the fact that in the second
election the register was old. Compare these results with the two
elections which have occurred since the 1917 enfranchisement. At the
1918 election 64 per cent. only of the voters could be induced to make
the acquaintance of the ballot-boxes. This might be explained by the
inevitable political apathy which follows a great war. The pulse of
party beat feebly and irregularly. The old party organisations had,
through five years of neglect, fallen into complete disrepair--the new
party had not yet had time to perfect its machinery. Hence the failure
of competitive effort to induce at least 6,000,000 of the new voters to
take a sufficient interest in their new privileges to exercise them at
the election.